Was fine all day, sleep this evening, fell asleep on couch, took his temp cos that's very unusual for him, temp of 41.1 gave him calpol and 40mins later neurofen. Temp is now 40.6 he's in bed, just sheet on him, sweating. Has a rash but more like heat rash than a meningitis rash. What can I give him if the temp still doesn't come down??? I know I shouldn't have given the 2 so close together but I had to do something to try and get the temp down.

You defo made the right call there nandos with your niece, instinct and all that.. That mum your referring to bragging about her child not missing school is a holy disgrace.. Imagine sending a sick child to school especially where the child has vomited the night before, we all know how bad we feel in that scenario when we are sick ourselves.. Children depend on us to take care of them and make the right decisions on their welfare...not brag about having a perfect attendance record despite the fact the child is actually too sick for school .what a moron that woman is..

The HE does have guidelines regarding specific illnesses and the exclusion or absence time for same. In the case of something such as a vomiting bug our local primary does request in a print out at the start of the year that children are kept home for 24 hours after symptoms have disappeared. In this specific case despite what some posters have said, the OP did not have it under control. The child's temperature was over 41 and they had a rash. The mum said that was not typical for the child. They also said they were panicking. They were given the wrong dose of medication to begin with. They were then given a prescription only medication (allbeit on advice from a medical professional which is an issue in itself) and even then the temperature remained high. I agree that not all temperatures are cause for concern but the sudden onset of a temperature that high particularly when accompanied with a rash should never be trivialiased. On the school issue I remember a school principal saying once to a group of parents who were complaining about the school having to close because of the snow 'Our schools are not a childminding service' I think she is dead right and we need to remember this. Obviously this did not apply to the OP on Friday as she had a minder at home.

Autumn Girl (post 75), there is NO WAY that a school would phone a parent and give out yards for sending a child to school when they're not well. Nor would a school tell you when a child should return to school after being absent through illness!!! Dolally's child was better the following day, why would the school phone her??

Yes people seem to panic over a temperature. It's just the body responding to an infection.

Obviously if your child has a high temp and is lethargic, hard to rouse etc.well then you seek medical help.

But a temperature is just the body working on an infection. I think people need to be better educated regardng illness and temperatures and maybe emergency departments might not be so overcrowded . We should know when we need to bring them to hospital and when to manage at home.

That s not to dismiss someone who is worried, as in if you are concerned seek help .

But the op here seemed to make sensible decisions yet everyone is decrying her.

A&E in Temple St is tiny and quite overcrowded. I was sitting about 6feet from a doctor that was specifically dealing with the children that came in with high temperatures. I could hear everything. I was there for about 6hrs and it was just a constant flow of children with temperatures, only one got kept because he was dehydrated. That's beside the point really though, I was just using that as an example of how many people get completely panicked over a temperature that can be managed at home.

I think we will have to agree to disagree on that score....my dd ended up very ill at almost 10 because another parent allowed her son to school after a high temperature and he passed on his illness to about 7 other children in the classroom...

Our eldest son used to have febrile convulsions. A doctor in Temple Street told us that a high temperature is not always a symptom of an infection. Often it is the body's way of working to kill off the infection. Which makes sense as DS always had a convulsion before he manifested any infection and sometime wou convulse but then not develop an infection.

With regard to it being contagious , he probably picked it up in school , so it was already in the classroom. And having such a severe reaction didn't make it anymore contagious , there were probably kids in the class showing little or no symptoms but they too are contagious. We all had a virus in our house Iast week and all reacted and recovered at different rates .

my son temp constantly spiked above 40 but he was always this way since a baby he picks up something his temp sores , the girls were sluggish but temps of 37-38 . I had no temp but completely wiped .

high temps are dangerous but we all know our children best , but my moto is never regret not checking it out , mammies gut feeling is powerful :)

Foodie I was referring to thecraic 'armchair diagnosing' the kids in a&e with temps making the doc go blue in the face....at least on here we were asked our opinions and were given as many facts as the op could give us.No one was armchair diagnosing on here...just advising the op based on the facts we were given.Thecraic wasn't given any facts in a&e about those kids hence the reference I made to her 'armchair diagnosing'. Autumngirl and sandy72+100

dolally that may be the truth but I'm inclined not to believe you as there is no way you could now come on here and admit your child was still unwell ..........

Our school says 24 hours min after any sort of tummy bug or 'contagious viral illness'. You will be phoned if you send a sick child back to school too early and given out yards to and asked to remove child again - you have to ring school when child is sick on first day of absence and explain what is wrong and you are told clearly when they can come back. Its only fair on other children and there are some children in our school with compromised immunity.

This was not just a 'temp'. This was a dangerously high temperature out of the blue for no reason. Many a child has died with similar symptoms within hours from meningitis or similar. You should not be complacent. OP said herself it was totally untypical of this child to present this way. Definitely an irresponsible response from OP I think and I do think she was lucky that her child woke up well again - many in same situation dont. And I am far from being alarmist - I dont panic when my kids get sick. I do have a friend who lost her dd in hours from meningitis though and the symptoms presented by the child of the OP were genuinely alarming - or should have been.

That's not quite the point though. He was probably still contagious and could have passed it on to his classmates. Any one of those children could have a more serious reaction to the high temperature. The responsible thing to do is to keep a child at home for at least 24hrs after a high temp.

Ds came home from school yesterday all excited as he had managed to beat the fasted boy in his class at a running race. He came in the door went straight to the fridge and then sat up and did his homework. I really don't know how where the temp can from the previous night but without a doubt he was back to him self ywsdayday morning.

Temperatures of +40 celcius are very dangerous particularly in children and can in certain cases cause brain damage and even death. They should never be taken lightly and even more so when accompanied by a rash. I say this as a member of the medical profession.

The hysteria is unreal. The op knows her child and sounds sensible enough. Yet a bunch of random people on the Internet thinkthey know better . A temperature is just a number, some kids spike very high temps with even mild illnesses.

Bad advice thecraic.Also the child should NOT have been in school the next day...foolish and inconsiderate imo.You must have accompanied all those kids in a&e to find out that the doctor was 'blue in the face' telling them to give calpol.What a silly comment to make...you have no idea what the doctor thought unless he/she told you personally which I very much doubt...nor do you have any clue that those kids 'just had a temp'.Armchair diagnosing at it's finest lol

I think people are getting over excited here, the child just had a temperature. People seem to freak out over temperatures. A temperature is the body's way of fighting an illness which is perfectly normal. OP did all the right things, yes, maybe left too little of a gap between the nurofen and voltarol but it really wasn't going to do much harm for a one off dose. Also the child is 9 so not exactly a baby and I'm sure could tell OP if he had any other symptoms.

It probably would have been a good idea to keep him off school just in case but I don't understand why people are making OP feel like a bad parent for sending him in. He's 9!

IMO people leg it to hospital or out of hours docs at the first sign of anything. I was in A&E with my ds a few weeks ago and the amount of people that came in with their child that had a temp was unreal! The doctor was blue in the face telling them to give calpol and nurofen. Unless the child is drowsy, unable to take fluids or has stopped passing fluids temperatures are manageable at home. Obviously if it persists they may need an antibiotic but seriously, people need to calm down!!